What do the beards bring Boston? Nothing, say Tigers fans

FYIWatch the Tigers live at 4 p.m. Tuesday on Fox 2 as they take on the bearded Boston Red Sox in Game 3 of the ALCS. The teams sit 1-1 in the best-of-seven series.

The Boston Red Sox and their wiry beards on Tuesday will be stepping onto Comerica Park in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series in hopes of thwarting an awakened Detroit Tigers offense.

Waterford Township resident Mike Wright, 58, stepped out of a local barber shop Monday hoping he looked less like a Red Sox fan than when he went in.

As the two teams atop Major League Baseball’s American League face off downtown, one question that will inevitably be asked — aside from “who will win?” — is what those beards bring to the Red Sox, and whether Tigers players and fans are missing out.

Wright said he would hate to be pegged as a Boston fan, adding “they don’t stand a chance.”

“I’ve been following (the Tigers) since the snow was flying in spring training,” Wright said from a barber’s chair at Family Barber on Dixie Highway in Waterford Township. “I don’t want to be a spy here or a conspirator — I just want to get rid of this mess.”

Fans awaiting the return home of their baseball team can see that the mostly shaven Tigers are a stark contrast to the tufted, bristly BoSox.

Wright said he was as disappointed as many other fans as he listened to the Tigers’ epic 6-5 walk-off loss Sunday night at Boston’s Fenway Park from a radio next to his bed. With the ALCS tied at a game apiece, the purpose of Wright’s Monday trim was to show his true colors and support his team — not the opposition, he said.

In Boston, the facial hair following is well-documented and ongoing. Most of the playoff roster — save former Tiger Quintin Berry, among a few others — wear some type of facial hair, from catcher Jonny Gomes’ self-proclaimed “Ironsides” beard, to pitcher Clay Buchholz’ scarecrow-esque muff. Fans there don’t merely grow beards along with the team — some fashion shapes out of them, some put them into ponytails, and many proudly let them fly in the breeze.

Here, when first baseman Prince Fielder sported a beard in the 2012 season, fans followed suit — some even donning costume beards. He’s largely through that phase now, and so are Tigers fans, according to comments from The Oakland Press reader Anita Rabine Hodgson.

“(Boston players) are making Duck Dynasty look bad!” wrote Hodgson.

The significance of the beards, as silly as they may seem, is up for discussion.

Shelly Knisley, who owns the Family Barber with her husband, Bob, emphatically said the Sox’s beards bring nothing to the table. Her Waterford shop, its four walls draped with framed sports stills, has drawn a large sports fan base in its 15 years in business, she said.

Superstition is prominent among many professional sports players, but it’s shown most notably during the National Hockey League playoffs. Many superstitious players band together and refuse to shave until their team is knocked out of the running or wins the Stanley Cup.

One of Knisley’s customers, 80-year-old Harry Dayner, spoke up in the middle of his haircut, and said the baseball beards are “supposed to make (Boston) look fierce.”

Knisley responded: “It doesn’t look fierce, it looks sloppy.”

Another theory, and possibly the most plausible, is that the beard signifies team solidarity, or camaraderie.

Mike Nutting, 63, who works at General Motors Corp., owns a gray beard, but said it’s not his normal look. Nutting is a hunter who starts growing his beard on Labor Day and gets it cut before Christmas.

“You know why this is here, don’t you?” Nutting said. “Deer camp’s coming up. All the guys up there grow beards for deer camp, so I grow a beard, too.

“We’re a team — you’ve got to stick with your buddies. I’m sure that’s why the players do it.”

Pontiac history seems to say the same, as the tradition didn’t just begin with sports teams growing beards. The Greater Pontiac Brothers of the Brush was a social group organized during the city’s centennial celebrations in 1961. During the centennial, group members were asked to perform their “civic duty,” and wear any combination of grown facial hair, along with a top hat or derby hat, to recreate the style that was common in 1861.

Burleson Barber owner Art Burleson, 75, said he remembers moving to the Waterford area during that time.

“I looked out the window and there were a bunch of people walking around with long beards,” said Burleson, whose shop has sat along Dixie for nearly 53 years. “I was a bit intimidated — being the new kid on the block, it took me a while to find out what was going on.”

The Tigers are returning to their home field at 4 p.m. Tuesday, and they’ve earned their spot, said the newly shaven Wright. He’ll be following along, he said.

“The Tigers are a great, great bunch of men, and they’re so fun to watch in action,” he said. “I’m going to get a Detroit ball cap and cut off the brim, so I look like I just walked out of the auto shop ... that’s the style I like.”

At least his style is more Detroit- than Boston-slanted after his shave, said Family Barber’s Knisley, putting down her clippers.

“This time of year, the only bearded people I see are hockey players and hunters,” said Knisley. “Now, without the beard, he doesn’t look like a Boston fan.”